Fire-escape.



J. PAQUET. FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 9, 1912.

, Patented Apr. 22, 1913,

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

J. PAQUET.

FIRE ESCAPE. I APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1912.

1,059,754, Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Witnesses allow for the gradual descent of the chair citizen of theUnited States, residing at JOSEPH PAQUET, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK,

ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO ADOLPH SNYDER AND ON E-THIRD TO HERMAN MINTZER,0F POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 9, 1912. Serial No. 682,565.

To ailcclwmz'z -mag concern: Be it known that I, JOSEPH PAQUET, a

Poughkeepsie, in the county of Dutchess and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful F ire-Escape, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an improvement fire escapes.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a frictional ropeclutch which will or sling which may be attached thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a speed controlledmechanism which may be rendered operative when the clutch is moved ineither direction on the cable.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed. itbeing understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within thescope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device. Fig. 2 isa side elevation. Fig. 3 is a vertical section. Fig. 4 is a transversesection. Fig. 5 is a detail view of one of the speed controllingmembers.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 10 and 11 designateopposed similar semi-cylindrical casing sections, these sections beinghollowed out and each being provided with ears 30 and 31 outstandingfrom the lower and upper ends thereof, the corresponding ears on the twosections being adapted to receive screws or other fastening meanswhereby the two sections can be held securely together. Additional ears22 extend from the longitudinal edges of the sections 10 and 11 so that,when the two sections are assembled, one pair of ears 22 will be locatedadjacent one end of the device while the other pair of ears 22 will belocated nearer the other end of the device, the two pairs of ears beingarranged upon diametrically opposed portions of the casing. The twosections 10 and 11 are provided at their ends with inwardlyextending'flanges defining openings 14 into which extend bosses 18formed at the ends of a substantially cylindrical clutch member 15.

Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

This clutch member lies close to the inner surfaces of the sections 10and 11 and is provided with a spiral groove 19 the ends of which mergeinto axial openings 19 formed in the centers of the bosses 18.

Pivotally mounted bet-ween the ears 22 of each pair is a clutch member29 having a flat jaw 21' at one end while a handle 25 extends from itsother end. The two clutch members 29 are oppositely disposed so that thehandles of the respective members normally extend toward the nearestends of the sections 10 and 1-1. This will be apparent by referringparticularly to Figs. 2 and 3. As shown in Fig. 3 the longitudinal edges12 of the sections 10 and 11 are cut away adjacent the ears 22 so asthus to form slots 24 through which the clamping faces 21 of theclutchmembers 29 are adapted to move. In order to use the device hereindescribed it is necessary first to insert a rope or cable 20 through oneof the axial openings 19 and then to wind said rope or cable about thecylindrical friction member 15 so that it will lie within the spiralgroove 19. The rope or cable is then threaded through the other axialopening 19 whereupon the device is ready for use.

If the device is mounted upon one end portion of the rope or cable 20,said end portion is attached to a window frame or other supportingstructure and the person to descend then sits upon a looped strap 26which is connected to one pair of ears 30 or 31 by means of straps 27and 28, as shown in Fig. 1. The friction member 15 and the casing inwhich it is mounted will thus move downwardly by gravity, the samesliding along the rope or cable 20 which occupies the tortuous passageformed by the axial openings 19' and the spiral groove 19. If the speedof descent becomes too great, the occupant of the fire escape pullsdownwardly on the uppermost handle 25 so that the flat j aw 21 thereofwill engage one of the convolutions of the cable or rope 20 and thusretard the downward movement of the device upon the cable. When thedevice reaches the lower end of the cable or rope, said cable can beinverted and again suspended from the supporting structure whereupon theclutch member 15 will occupy a position directly opposlte to thatformerly occupied by it. Strap 26 can be quickly connected to the otherend' of the casing after which the device can be used as before.Importance is attached to the fact that the two end portions of thedevice are duplicates so that, after a descent has been made, it is notnecessary to slide the device back along the cable to the startingpoint. I

Instead the cable can be detached and reversed whereupon the device willassume a position adjacent the upper end of the cable and it merelybecomes necessary to readjust thestrap 26 to the lower end of thecasing.

It will be seen that the two casing sections 10 and 11 can be readilydetached, as when it is desired forany reason, to obtain access to thefriction member 15. This is particularly necessary in order tothread thecable or rope through and around the friction member. After the rope orcable has been placed in position, the casing is found desirable in thatit protects the coiled portion of the cable from injury.

What is claimed is a A fire escape including a casing made up of opposedsimilar semi-cylindrical sections, the meeting longitudinal edges ofsaid sections being recessed, ears outstanding from the casing sectionsand adjacent the recesses, the recesses in opposed sections co operatingto form slots, oppositely disposed leversfulcru'med between the ears andprojecting into the respective slots, a cylindrical friction memberseated within the casing, said casing having reduced end openings,bosses upon the ends of the cylindrical clutch member and. extendinginto the openings, said cylindrical friction member being providedwith'a spiral peripheral groove merging, at its ends, into axialopenings in the ends of the clutch member, sald openings extendingcentrally through the bosses, said openings and the spiral groove beingadapted to receive portions of a cable, the inner ends of the leversbeing movable into certain convolutions of the spiral groove forengaging adjacent portions of the cable, said casing being invertible,and outstanding means upon the end portions of the casing for engagementby body supporting means. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myown, I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

JOSEPH PAQUET.

Witnessesr CHARLES J. CoRBALLY,

JAMES E. CARRO L.

